Just read this after receiving a free review copy from Netgalley. I was singularly unimpressed. This just recycles old information. I mean, do we REALJust read this after receiving a free review copy from Netgalley. I was singularly unimpressed. This just recycles old information. I mean, do we REALLY have to be told what YouTube is and that Google owns it? I couldn't find anything particularly useful in the book....more

Having epilepsy and clinical depression, I have always been fascinated by the human brain and how it works. Despite many centuries of study, neurologiHaving epilepsy and clinical depression, I have always been fascinated by the human brain and how it works. Despite many centuries of study, neurologists still only understand a tiny fracture of how the brain works. Most is still a mystery with different factions arguing with one another about to interpret something which has happened to a patient.

With a subject like this, you would expect the subject to be dry, boring and unreadable. But in actual fact, Sam Kean delivers big time in producing a highly readable, highly amusing (in places) account of the history of neurology. He starts many hundreds of years ago when King Henri II of France was knocked off his horse and suffered brain damage. And the book ends with the most famous neurological case ever - Phineas Gage.

Did you know that some female epileptics experience intense orgasms while having a seizure? Typical for it to only be women!

A highly enjoyable book which anyone who has an interest in the subject should read....more

This was a rather interesting book. It covers a selection of writers who suffered from ill health during their lifetimes and how they managed to overcThis was a rather interesting book. It covers a selection of writers who suffered from ill health during their lifetimes and how they managed to overcome that ill-health to produce the books they are famous for.

Selections include people such as Jonathan Swift, Jane Austen, George Orwell, and William Shakespeare. The author is a doctor who examines the medical options back then compared to the options available today. He also challenges some of the assertions made about these authors, suggesting they may have suffered from something totally different to what people have always thought....more

This is a beautiful short book which has made me rethink a lot of things about my life. I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture and living,This is a beautiful short book which has made me rethink a lot of things about my life. I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture and living, and this book covers it all. It explains that if you want to live a long time, you must find your "ikigai" - quite literally your purpose in life. Without a purpose in life, you will basically give up and die a premature death. Diet and exercise also plays a huge part in longevity and the authors talk to people over 100 in Okinawa, Japan to ask them what they do.

This is a book where you will be taking lots of notes. And you will do a LOT of thinking afterwards....more